Pablo Prigioni: The Knicks and NBA’s Best Kept Secret

“From the first days of training camp, I knew that I needed to work on my shot,” admitted Prigioni. “The European League’s line was closer to the basket. I have worked on it at every practice. Now, I feel much better. I have a lot more confidence now.”

Kurt Thomas has noticed the strides Prigioni has made with his shooting, “He’s been huge. He gives us another dimension out on the floor. He’s a guy who can shoot the ball and stretch the defense.”

While Prigioni is stretching opposing defenses with his sharpshooting, he is also wreaking havoc with his defensive tenacity.

“He picks up full court on defense and makes life difficult for his opponents,” added former Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Camby, “He’s playing aggressive defense, locking down on opposing point guards, and – when they’re not looking – Pablo’s going to take the ball from them. He just seems to have a knack for always getting his hands on the basketball.”

The phenomenon Camby is referring to can be viewed here. Note that even after Prigioni makes the initial successful steal and beautifully leads a sprinting Anthony with a bounce pass, he goes right back to Gary Neal and nearly steals the inbound again. Actually, these kinds of plays happen quite frequently.

This type of relentless hustle and effort has been refreshing to see from an NBA player and is something that Prigioni brings with him to the court each and every night. Prigioni’s tireless motor almost makes you forget that he is older than nearly everyone on the court. Regardless of if the game is tied in the closing minutes or it is out of reach in a lopsided blowout by the middle of the third quarter, Prigioni can be found stirring in the backcourt assuming a full court press.

“I give 100 percent of my effort at all times,” noted Prigioni. “No matter what the score is, when I jump on the court, I feel that I owe it to the team to give my best. No matter if we are up or if we are down, I just try to play basketball and help the team play better.” 

Woodson recognized the value of Prigioni’s effort and rewarded Prigioni with a start on March 18^th in Utah. At that point in the season, the Knicks were mired in a season-worst four game losing streak and were on the tail end of a West coast road trip that had seen their two All-Stars suffer injuries.

Prigioni turned in as authentic a Prigioni performance as possible that night. Three points, three assists, two offensive rebounds, zero turnovers, and a charge taken. Although he only played 20 minutes, he left his mark on the court. He even instinctively stopped a Jazz fast break by fouling Paul Millsap before the break ever had an opportunity to materialize.

If there was a statistic for “good fouls committed,” Prigioni would likely find himself among the league leaders in the category. Thomas agrees, “He knows when to take a foul. He also knows when not to foul.”

Prigioni’s hustle and strong ability to close out on shooters has had a noticeably positive impact on the team. Over the 10-game stretch in which he has started, opponents are shooting 32.7 percent from three. For the season, opponents had been shooting 36.5 percent from deep against the Knicks.

Still, where Prigioni’s metric value is most dominant and has mysteriously not yet been covered is his offensive and defensive efficiencies.

According to Basketball-Reference.com, for the season, the Knicks have an Offensive Rating of 110.5. This means that per 100 possessions, the Knicks average 110.5 points.

Meanwhile, the Knicks’ Defensive Rating is 106.2, meaning they allow 106.2 points per 100 defensive possessions.

The difference in these efficiencies makes for a +4.3 net score over 100 possessions.

Now, consider this: according to Basketball-Reference’s lineup finder, in the cumulative 278 minutes that Prigioni and Chandler have been on the court together, the Knicks’ net scoring per 100 possessions increases from +4.3 to an astonishing +15.7.

In perspective, when Chandler has been on the floor with Carmelo Anthony throughout the season, the team’s net scoring per 100 possessions is a solid +6.9. However, when Chandler has been on the floor with both Anthony and Prigioni, that +6.9 net per 100 possessions increases to +15.7 as well.

Both Chandler and Anthony’s best three-man groupings with over 150 minutes of playing time together include Prigioni.  (Anthony’s best two-man pairing comes with either Kenyon Martin or Steve Novak.)

For Chandler, the explanation is obvious. “[Pablo] just seems to make the right play all the time.”

Perhaps the biggest indicator that Prigioni’s metric stats correlate to what is working well on the court comes from J.R. Smith’s recent surge. Although Smith doesn’t start with Prigioni, the two are finding more time on the court together. In 780 minutes of court time together throughout the season, Prigioni has proved to be Smith’s most compatibly efficient teammate as they average a +9.5 net per 100 possessions. (Smith’s next best pairing is with Chandler at +8.6). 

When I told Smith that his best minutes come with Prigioni on the court, Smith responded excitedly but not exactly surprised, “Wow. I didn’t know about that statistic but that’s big. For some reason we gel unbelievably great together and hopefully we can continue that throughout the playoffs.”

Chandler and Smith are not the only two Knicks who benefit the most through pairing with Prigioni. In fact, they are far from the only two:

Raymond Felton and Prigioni in 200 minutes of action have averaged a +19.2 net per 100 possessions. (Felton’s next best pair is with Martin at +10.2)

Jason Kidd and Prigioni in 230 minutes have averaged a +12.7 net per 100 possessions. (Kidd’s next best pair is with Felton at +7.6)

Steve Novak and Prigioni in 723 minutes have averaged a +10.3 net per 100 possessions. (Novak’s next best pair is with Anthony at 9.4)

Anthony, Martin, Shumpert, Copeland, and Camby all have Prigioni among their four best pairings as well.  The only three players who Prigioni pairs with less effectively than the team’s +4.3 average are Stoudemire (+1.7), James White (-6.0), and Kurt Thomas (-7.6).

“Somebody brought it to my attention that we are undefeated since he’s become a starter,” Jason Kidd said while grinning when I asked him for a line about Prigioni’s impact. “How about that for a line?”

Prigioni admitted, “I don’t look too much at the statistics like I know everybody else does. I just try to bring the small details to the court like playing good defense, sharing the ball, and playing smart. But if the stats say that I am playing well, then I am happy to hear that.”

In many ways, the personified oxymoron’s playing style is fittingly paradoxical. Energizing yet aging. Consistently smart but not necessarily safe with the ball. If there is one thing that has no contrast in Prigioni’s performance on the court, it is his results. Be it from “the eye test” or from advanced statistics, most Knicks fans will agree that Prigioni has helped right the Knicks’ ship tremendously as they look ahead toward a pursuit of some long overdue postseason success.

Jacob Eisenberg is a sophomore at Emory University in Atlanta. Check out his Web site, jacobeisenberg.com.